To provide service such as communications, alarm, or utility services to a residence, business, or in general any building or structure, network service providers, such as a telephone operating company or long distance carrier, run various cables to and from a network interface device (NID) or similar enclosure. A NID is a weather-proof, box-like enclosure mounted to the building or structure and used to house network interface units (NIUs) or other service equipment. NIUs are equipment that a network service provider places between their lines and the customer's lines. The NIUs can provide a demarcation point for legal tariff issues.
Depending on the type of service being provided, different types of wires or cable may be used, such as coaxial cable, optical fiber cable, twisted pair cables (CAT-3), copper cable (CAT-5), etc. To protect such wires or cables from the weather or other potential damage, it is desirable to run the cables through a conduit. However, typical NIDs or similar enclosures have no adequate means for attaching or securing such conduit. This shortcoming is compounded by the fact that the differing conduit used often varies in size or diameter.
A simple rubber grommet is commonly used to loosely engage the wire or cable entering the NID. Without conduit however, communication or utility services are less reliable and less secure due to the environmental, criminal and/or accidental hazards. Therefore, conduit is becoming more popular as a cabling transport means to NIDs or enclosures. Conduit protects the cables from environmental, accidental, and criminal hazards. Conduit also provides a more efficient or less cumbersome method for cable installation. Most NIDs or enclosures do not have the mechanism to support conduit installation. Some NIDs or enclosures provide brackets or clamps within the enclosure, but these clamps are typically designed for specific conduit or cable.
Thus, when installing conduit into an enclosure, the enclosure often does not have an interface which will provide a secured and sealed connection to the conduit Enclosures typically have a port cavity where the rubber grommet is used as the interface to the connecting cables. If these enclosures encounter conduit, the conduit is often installed below the enclosure and the internal cabling is then installed into the enclosure.
Various known techniques used to hold conduit to or in proximity with a NID or similar enclosure include non-secure, unsealed connections such as by fastening the conduit or cables with tape, brackets, glue, etc., forcing the conduit through the port cavity, applying globs of sealant at the port cavity, clamping the conduit or cables with a clamp assembly, and/or replacing the existing NID with a new, customized enclosure designed to accept a specific conduit. Often, a bracket is installed below the enclosure to support and hold upright the conduit for entry into the enclosure, and the conduit must be stripped back so that the cables within the conduit can then be connected and/or glued into the enclosure. However, such techniques are generally poor, inefficient, temporary, unsightly, and can be costly and/or time consuming to use.
One recent attempt at a solution to suitably connect a cable to a NID is disclosed in U.S. Patent Application Publication No. US 2005/0254757 A1 published to Ferretti, III et al. on Nov. 17, 2005, herein incorporated by reference. Disclosed therein is a connector port for use in a fiber optic communications network and adapted for a NID to receive a connectorized optical fiber from inside the NID and a pre-connectorized fiber optic drop cable from outside the NID.
In one embodiment disclosed therein, an exterior connector port mounted within a base is attached to a drop cable opening located within an external/bottom wall of the NID by way of a slotted end portion of the base. A pre-connectorized drop cable may then be optically connected to a connectorized optical fiber routed to the exterior connector port from inside the NID. Once the optical connection is made, a cover is positioned over the base.
In another embodiment disclosed therein, an insert is positioned within a drop cable opening in an external/bottom wall of the NID, along with a connector receptacle located within the interior cavity of the NID. A portion of the connector receptacle is placed through the insert such that one end of the connector receptacle abuts a passageway of the insert. A connectorized optical fiber is routed to the first end of the connector receptacle from inside the NID, and the end portion of a pre-connectorized fiber optic drop cable is routed from outside the NID to the second end of the connector receptacle to permit an optical fiber of the pre-connectorized drop cable to be readily interconnected with the connectorized optical fiber.
As can be seen, the above described connector port for a NID requires different pieces for different applications, and further requires a specific “connectorized” optical cable for attachment to a specific “pre-connectorized” fiber optic cable. Unlike the device and system disclosed herein, the above described connector port is relatively complex and cannot easily and quickly connect a variety of different conduit to a NID.
As discussed above, such prior art devices and methods suffer from numerous disadvantages, drawbacks and/or limitations. Further, these devices and methods tend to be overly complicated and/or expensive to manufacture or implement. Therefore, a need exists for a method, system and device which are directed toward overcoming the above described and other disadvantages of prior art devices and methods. Accordingly, to address the above stated issues, a method, system and device that can quickly and easily attach different sized conduit to a NID or similar enclosure is needed. The exemplary teachings herein fulfill such a need.